BOISE, Idaho — Walking to and from school has become a major safety concern across the country. Accidents sometimes resulting in death have occurred from students lacking a safe route to school. The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, otherwise known as "COMPASS" hopes to bring "Safe Routes to School" to the attention of legislatures in hopes of receiving funds to bring back this initiative.
Once a federally funded program to give students and bicyclist safe means of transportation without fear of an accident, the initiative has since lost its funding leaving students, specifically, without access to bus service no reliable way to get to and from school. However, in 2017, the legislature did allow "Safe Routes to School" to be an eligible category for funding, "we're hopeful that we can have the conversation with them and if they consider transportation funding, that they'll have that as one of the talking points and consider providing a dedicated funding mechanism.", Matt Stoll, Executive Director at COMPASS.
Stoll adds, "Safe Routes to School" has been a position statement for quite some time. The future of this initiative and it's funding source is left for legislatures to decide. For more information, you can visit the COMPASS website or National Center for Safe Routes to School website.
